A Peaceful Place
by BuggyNess
Summary: As Edward sits eating his sandwich in Winry's room, he ponders the Promised Day.


**5/21/13 A/N: Just a little blurb of a story here, written because a thought popped into my head: "What was on Ed's mind as he sat in Winry's room right before she almost flashed him?" I don't know if this is accurate, but is my interpretation of the moments before THAT scene. **

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**A Peaceful Place**

Mr Gorilla's and Mr. Lion's snores reverberated through the walls of the old house with such force, his glass of water shook on the table. The young man stared intently upon the minute waves rolling from the center toward the rim of the glass and imagined it resembled certain alchemic arrays. He smiled because it had only been minutes since he went upstairs and those guys were already asleep. Of course, they deserved the rest.

For once since he left North City, they were not being followed or were not evading _someone. _He felt at ease since the old Rockbell house was safe, quiet, and, well, _familiar_.

He cherished this familiarity. It sat upon his heavy heart and worried mind and it did some little thing to quell the mountain of self doubt and fright that he carried on this long journey back to Resembool. Months and months have passed since he sealed the otherwise mortal wound in his side and unwillingly submitted to the care of the two burly chimeras, Darius and Henkel. Months still, since they became Greedling's "lackeys."

Ed was ok with that. Yeah, he shoved his pride right back down his throat when he decided to acquiesce leadership to the sin controlling Ling's body. Ok with it, sure. Like it, no. But, it was more practical to follow than lead right now. At any rate, they were safely making a pit stop at his home town, hoping to clean up and fuel up before carrying on toward Central.

The Promised Day was near.

He cursed himself for thinking about this again. The comfort of feeling familiarity with this house lost to the rise of gall in this belly with fear he would fail. No, in his brilliant mind, there was no possible scenario where he would: a. restore Alphonse's body; b. defeat Father and the rest of the homunculi; c. stop them from turning the souls of the people of Amestris into a philosopher's stone; and d. doing all this without using any more souls in the process. Al would add: e. restore Ed's arm and leg. But, he really didn't care at this point. Regaining his limbs at the end of all this seemed a nice perk, a bonus, but something not likely to happen.

He opened and closed his metal hand. His thumb bent unnaturally when he moved it and the pinky and ring finger no longer worked correctly all of the time. Not only his hand suffered but his leg no longer moved swiftly and with ease, and the knee joint sometimes stuck making him swing his leg out and shake it on occasion. This funky walk elicited some jokes and chortles from his traveling companions, which irked him. This young man sorely needed the care of a professional mechanic, the loving touch of Winry Rockbell.

Edward chuckled quietly. Loving care would be the last thing that girl would give him once she saw her automail in its current state. He'd be lucky live through her tirades on how he failed her and failed to take care of her perfect craftsmanship. Actually, he'd love to hear her bitch at him right now. He'd prefer taking a flying wrench to his face to this not knowing where she or his brother were at this moment. It scared him to think that Kimblee or the Fuehrer's men caught up with Winry's group. However, something deep down, a feeling, told him they were safe. He clung to that particular feeling and it helped his worry. Somewhat.

Still, if alchemy granted wishes, he'd wish Alphonse, Winry and their friends to safely appear in this warm, strong house even if the blond girl's yelling effectively reduced him to a sniveling puddle of goo on the rough wooden floor. Edward would gladly prefer that to sitting here alone eating his pitiful tuna fish sandwich in the dark.

His sorry band of misfits arrived early that morning, hidden by the thick fog and faint light of dawn. They'd found the yellow house empty and locked up tight. Mr. Gorilla almost succeeded in pulling the basement door off its hinges before Ed stopped him, brushed him aside and removed the lock with alchemy. Once they stood safely inside the dusty basement, the alchemist restored the lock and they wearily went upstairs. They all hadn't eaten in a few days and were starving. Edward was sure that Greedling didn't really need sustenance but Ling's voracious appetite and fainting when he blood sugar dipped was the only reason the sin ate at all. They pilfered through the kitchen and the only thing they were able to find was some tinned meat and vegetables in the cupboards and some moldy bread in the pantry. The men and young alchemist made short work of these items, finding them way more preferable to the rabbits and fish they caught on their travels. At least they found some mayonnaise and sweet pickles in the refrigerator and Edward used it and the tuna to make a simple tuna salad. After scraping off the mold from the bread, they all made sandwiches and devoured them with gusto. Well, all of them ate, except Edward.

He really just wanted to see his brother, Pinako, the old dog and even, even Winry. The house felt, it felt…he struggled to find the words in his mind to adequately express exactly how it felt and suddenly, the young man decided it. The house felt sad. They were strangers in this, his surrogate home. And, they were loud.

Silently, the blond got up and pulled a cupboard drawer open, knowing in his gut, the paper bags would be there and he smiled when he proved himself correct. He stuffed his sandwich and two large homemade sweet pickles in the bag, grabbed the water glass and started walking upstairs.

"Where ya goin' Ed?" Darius mumbled through his tuna fish.

"Uh, just feeling a little nervous." He lied. "I can watch the road halfway down the valley from the upstairs room. I'm going to eat up there." The young man started up the stairs and his knee joint stuck straight. He flung his leg out and wiggled it until it started working again, earning chuckles from the big men as they ate. Edward sighed and continued on his way.

Once he settled in the mechanic's room, he took a bite of the salty and improvised sandwich. Winry always made yummy tuna salad with grapes and sometimes walnuts. If they had roasted chicken for dinner, then the next day, she'd use the same recipe to make chicken salad. What he made most certainly was not her chicken salad, but would do. Ed drew both legs up to his chair and he looked about the dusty room. The pink curtain was drawn, letting the sunlight filter through it giving the room a faint rosy glow. Automail works in progress lay upon the desk at the wall farthest from where he sat and he wondered which customer would be complaining because it went unfinished. He wondered if they'd worry about it once their souls were sucked from their body.

_Groan._

There was that self doubt again. He took another bite and chewed slowly as he scoured his brain again trying to source a solution to his, to all of their problems. Greed was right. He really did want it all, Ed wanted to save everyone with no loss, no equivalent exchange. He grimaced at that last thought. _No, there was no way, no hope, that something, someone would not be lost in the end_. His heart ached and he wanted to scream. He knew too well that equivalent exchange was an angry bitch and the young man knew she'd exact something horrible from him in the end, something far worse than his right arm and left leg.

_Think! He had to think! He was a god-damned alchemical genius! _A god-damned genius who wanted nothing more than to curl up into a fetal position and cry.

For a minute, he considered breaking down. He'd never really done that before, not even at the worst, most lowest part in his life-when his mom died. No, he didn't cry for her, the one person he loved as much as his brother. But, Ed did shed tears when the Truth stole his brother's whole body then sheared off his left leg and then his right arm. He cried not out of pain, but out of anger and determination to get his brother back. So, maybe, right now, having a fit like a baby might just be the pivotal moment to inspire a solution.

_Yeah. It couldn't hurt, right? Besides, he was all alone in Winry's room. Right? _He scrunched his eyes closed and exhaled trying to start the water works. Nothing happened.

Creak.

Edward had pretty good hearing, even though he routinely ignored Mustang's orders, he always _heard them. _With his eyes closed he very distinctly heard the familiar creaking of the old wooden door to Winry's room opening. He sighed. Most likely one of his traveling companions was checking in on him.

"It's so dusty."

_That wasn't Mr Gorilla, Mr. Lion or Greedling! _He remembered the chunk of sandwich still in his mouth and so he swallowed it, then slowly opened his eyes.

Winry. She stood mere feet from him and here he was about to cry. For a moment he was relieved not only for NOT being able to cry but also because he was happy to see her. The slender blond mechanic had just taken off her button up shirt and dropped the garment on her bed. She then grabbed the hem of her tank top and began to pull it over her head.

In a split second, Ed's relief suddenly morphed into sheer terror as he realized three things: one, he was about to see Winry's boobs; two she obviously hadn't seen him yet; and three, he wouldn't have to worry about the Promised Day because this crazy woman was going to KILL him!

He really wouldn't mind seeing her boobs. However, right before she was about to unknowingly reveal one of her most perky assets, her gaze finally turned toward the petrified boy in the corner.

Of course her scream echoed through the entire house. The poor boy couldn't help but think how he erred in thinking HER room would be a peaceful place to eat his sandwich.

In a few minutes, peace would be the last thing on everyone's minds.

Fin.


End file.
